A Fever of a Memory – The Haunting of a Museum Collection
Guest curator Talia Smith presents A Fever of a Memory as part of nginha: gathered here, a programming series at the Murray Art Museum Albury inspired by Jeanine Leane’s Wiradjuri-language poem of the same name. The series foregrounds local artists and the museum’s collection, positioning both as sites of reflection and re-examination.
A Fever of a Memory approaches the museum’s holdings through the lens of absence: the silences, erasures and omissions that haunt collections and the lands on which institutions stand. The exhibition asks whose voices and stories remain untold, whether as subjects within artworks or as makers and custodians of culture. In exploring these absences, Smith considers how museums, intended to reflect life, inevitably mirror the exclusions and power structures that shape the world. By unsettling the boundaries of representation, A Fever of a Memory invites audiences to confront the complexities of presence and absence within cultural memory. The exhibition runs until February 1, 2026.
Image credit: RICKY SWALLOW, Picture a screaming sculpture, 2003. Installation view, A fever of a memory, curated by Talia Smith, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2025. Photo: Jeremy Weihrauch
